“A state that has denied opportunity for quality education for Negroes has no right to demand literacy as a prerequisite for voting,”

In 1965 Ellie Hockley, raised to be a southern lady, is engaged to a bank manager and enrolled in college. Against the wishes of her parents, Ellie joins the freedom fighters in an effort to register black voters. While working with other freedom fighters, Ellie falls in love with a black man.  She knows her family will not be welcoming to that.

In 2010 Kayla Carter is a single mother who lives in the first home in a new development called Shadow Ridge Estates. Kayla’s father was the banker engaged to Ellis back in the sixties.

The young black man Ellie loved was murdered in 1965. No one knows for sure who did the killing. Was Kayla’s father involved?

This novel addresses racism, family dynamics, love, injustice, loyalty and intergenerational trauma. Very moving.